The Anastasiades and Christodoulides governments bear full responsibility for the dire water situation in the country

 

24 October 2025, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

The water shortage crisis must be placed at the top of the government’s priorities, as the food security and survival of our people are all at stake.

The situation Cyprus is experiencing this year with regards water is unprecedented.

The desalination plants that the government is now rushing to implement should have been installed long ago and should cover 100% of water supply needs.

The government has focused on the issue of desalination to serve communication needs, while at the same time concealing the big picture of the country’s water situation, which is indeed dire.

The situation in the agricultural sector is depressing. Many farmers have no water at all. Dam capacity is at a historic low of 10%, and the only available sources are boreholes, which are drying up one after the other, and recovered water, which can only cover a minimal percentage of needs. Permanent tree crops are being destroyed, while seasonal crops are out of the question.

Faced with this situation, instead of taking immediate action, the Christodoulides government is simply warning farmers not to plant new crops. This in itself is an admission of failure!

This dire situation cannot be attributed solely to drought and bad weather. The responsibilities of both the previous and current governments are immense. According to reports by the Audit Office, it is now clear that water has fallen to the bottom of the list of priorities.

The Water Development Department has been decimated, and of the 60 water projects planned ten years ago, only 14 have been implemented to date.

What else can it be called other than inaction when dams were completed a decade ago but the construction of irrigation networks is still pending today?

What else but inaction is it when millions of cubic meters of recovered water remain unused because the necessary infrastructure has not been built?

What else but short-sighted policy can the pumping of water from dams for water supply be called instead of operating desalination plants at maximum capacity?

The government must now realize the seriousness of the situation.

It must speed up the implementation of projects, at least to mitigate the effects.

It must proceed with specific measures such as:

• Implementation of high-efficiency irrigation technologies.
• Promotion of crops that require less water.
• Improving network infrastructures and addressing losses from water supply networks.
• Collecting and utilizing rainwater.